Currently, standards relevant with SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) and OTN (Optical Transmission Net) all define the 1:N linear protection mechanism, and standards relevant with OTN also refer to a M:N protection method for a communication network. However, the protection mechanisms in the prior art have the following drawbacks:
1. The numbers of working paths and protection paths are required to be fixedly configured. If the number of protection paths configured is less than that of the working paths, part of the working path services may not be protected when many working paths break down simultaneously.
2. When executing extra services, the protection paths do not differentiate the priority of the extra services, causing low security of the extra services.
The protection configuration manner in an optical network in the prior art is not sufficiently flexible, and the security of services should be further enhanced. Therefore, the prior art needs to be improved and developed.